Fatigue is among the most universal of human complaints, a signal from the body that something in the intricate balance of life has shifted. NHS GP Dr Amir Khan, drawing on years of clinical practice, maps the terrain of persistent tiredness across five broad territories — lifestyle, sleep, medication, medical conditions, and nutrition — reminding us that exhaustion is rarely a single story. His guidance arrives as both a practical compass and a quiet invitation to listen more carefully to what the body is trying to say.
Five Common Causes of Persistent Fatigue, According to NHS GP Dr Amir Khan
Tiredness is your body's way of signaling something's off
Mark
When someone says they're tired all the time, how do you know if it's just life catching up with them or something that needs a doctor?
Mimi
The key is duration and impact. A few rough weeks after a stressful project—that's normal. But if it's been going on for weeks without a clear reason, or if it's actually stopping you from doing things you normally do, that's when you need to get it checked.
Mark
You mention medication as a cause. Doesn't that seem backwards—aren't medications supposed to help?
Mimi
They do help with what they're prescribed for, but they have side effects. A beta blocker might control your blood pressure perfectly while making you feel like you're moving through water. The point isn't to stop taking it—it's to tell your doctor so they can either adjust the dose or try something else.
Mark
Of all the causes you list, which one surprises people most?
Mimi
Probably nutrition. People think they're eating fine, but they're missing iron or B12 without realizing it. It's not dramatic like a heart condition, but it absolutely drains you. And it's fixable.
Mark
What about someone who's tired but everything else seems fine—no weight loss, no other symptoms?
Mimi
That's still worth investigating. Tiredness is your body's way of signaling something's off. It might be stress, it might be sleep quality, it might be something brewing that hasn't shown other signs yet. Don't wait for the dramatic symptoms.
Mark
Is there a quick fix?
Mimi
Not really. But there are things everyone can do right now: actually sleep, cut the alcohol, eat real food, move around, find what calms you down. Those alone help a lot of people. The rest requires a conversation with your doctor.
Der Puls
- Millions of people are dragging through their days without understanding why, and the causes are far more varied and layered than most realise.
- Fatigue bleeds into work, relationships, and identity — and when it arrives alongside weight loss, mood changes, or strange sounds in the night, it becomes a medical urgency that cannot be ignored.
- A surprising number of culprits hide in plain sight: the antihistamine taken for hay fever, the beta blocker for blood pressure, the iron deficiency quietly deepening over months.
- Dr Khan urges patients not to self-diagnose or abandon prescribed medications, but to bring their full picture — habits, history, and symptoms — to a doctor who can investigate properly.
- The trajectory points toward a simple but demanding truth: unexplained tiredness lasting weeks is not something to wait out, but something to pursue with medical seriousness.
Fatigue is among the most universal of human complaints, a signal from the body that something in the intricate balance of life has shifted. NHS GP Dr Amir Khan, drawing on years of clinical practice, maps the terrain of persistent tiredness across five broad territories — lifestyle, sleep, medication, medical conditions, and nutrition — reminding us that exhaustion is rarely a single story. His guidance arrives as both a practical compass and a quiet invitation to listen more carefully to what the body is trying to say.
Tiredness is one of the most common reasons people visit their GP, yet its origins are rarely obvious. Dr Amir Khan, an NHS general practitioner with a familiar television presence, has spent years helping patients untangle the question of why they feel perpetually drained. His answer is that fatigue almost never has a single cause — it is a symptom with many roots.
The NHS recommends seven to nine hours of sleep for adults, but Dr Khan is quick to note that hours in bed do not guarantee rest. If exhaustion has been bleeding into daily life for weeks, or if it arrives alongside weight loss, mood changes, or gasping sounds during sleep, that is the moment to seek medical advice rather than push through.
He organises the causes into five categories. Lifestyle sits at the top: poor diet, alcohol, chronic stress, and the relentless demands of parenting or caregiving all accumulate in ways that hollow out energy over time. Sleep quality is distinct from sleep quantity — shift work, anxiety, and a restless mind can leave a person exhausted even after a full night. Medication is a frequently overlooked third cause, with sedatives, antihistamines, beta blockers, and opioids all capable of generating fatigue; Dr Khan reviews medication histories carefully, though he is firm that no one should alter a prescription without medical guidance.
The fourth category is the most sobering: underlying conditions ranging from thyroid disorders and diabetes to heart disease, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and cancer all carry fatigue as a symptom. Nutritional deficiencies — iron, vitamin D, B12, folic acid — round out the fifth, and are often missed entirely.
Dr Khan's practical advice is grounded: sleep consistently, reduce alcohol, eat well, manage stress meaningfully, and move regularly. But above all, he asks patients to take unexplained, persistent tiredness seriously — because sometimes the exhaustion is the body's most insistent way of asking for help.
Tiredness is one of the most common complaints that walk through a GP's door. Dr Amir Khan, an NHS general practitioner known for his television appearances, has spent years fielding questions about exhaustion from patients who can't quite figure out why they're running on empty. The answer, he says, is rarely simple—there are so many moving parts that could be at fault.
The NHS guidance is clear: adults need seven to nine hours of sleep per night, children between nine and thirteen depending on age. But sleep alone doesn't guarantee you'll wake refreshed. If you've been dragging through weeks without explanation, if tiredness is bleeding into your work and home life, or if you're noticing other changes—weight loss, mood shifts, strange sounds during sleep—that's the moment to call your doctor. Those gasping or choking sounds at night, in particular, warrant medical attention.
Dr Khan identifies five broad categories where fatigue takes root. The first is lifestyle: what you eat, how much you drink, the weight of stress you carry, the demands of parenting or caregiving. These aren't small things. They accumulate. Sleep quality comes next—and this extends beyond simply lying down. Work patterns, work stress, anything that fragments your night or keeps your mind turning can leave you exhausted even after eight hours in bed.
Medication is a third culprit that many people overlook. Sedatives, antipsychotics, opioids, anti-convulsants, antihistamines, beta blockers—the list is long. Dr Khan reviews medication histories regularly with fatigued patients, hunting for these hidden causes. But he's emphatic: nobody should alter or stop taking prescribed drugs without talking to their doctor first.
Underlying medical conditions form the fourth category, and here the range is sobering. Infections, heart disease, heart failure, POTS, chronic lung disease, mental health disorders, lupus, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid problems, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, cancer—tiredness is a symptom that threads through dozens of serious illnesses. Finally, nutrition: iron deficiency, anaemia, low vitamin D, low B12, folic acid deficiency. Eating disorders that push weight in either direction can also drain energy.
The path forward requires honesty about what's happening in your life and your body. Dr Khan's advice is practical: aim for seven to eight hours of sleep, cut back on alcohol, eat properly, find ways to manage stress that actually work for you, move your body regularly, keep your weight stable. But unexplained tiredness—especially when it's been going on for weeks, or when it arrives alongside weight loss or other worrying symptoms—demands investigation. The exhaustion might be telling you something important.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
As GPs it's one of the things we get asked about most and there are so many possibilities— Dr Amir Khan
You must get any underlying causes of tiredness treated and any unexplained tiredness or tiredness associated with worrying symptoms like weight loss should always be investigated— Dr Amir Khan
Möchten Sie die ganze Geschichte?
Das Original lesen bei The Mirror ↗
Health & Medicine